


Only Just One Time

by monkiainen



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Knitting, M/M, Mentions of PTSD, Pre-Relationship, Tony has a secret
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-27 10:43:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13246545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monkiainen/pseuds/monkiainen
Summary: Tony knits, but he does not want anyone to know about it. Although he's pretty sure he saw Steve knitting once, but it was probably a hallucination. Or was it?





	Only Just One Time

Click, click. Click, click.

At first Tony couldn't pinpoint the source of the clicking sound, which sounded like it was coming from the communal living room. It didn't sound like someone was pushing the remote control buttons – no, it was too… _metallic_ for that. But it's wasn't any of the bots, either, since they were not allowed to leave the workshop. His curiosity awakened, Tony tiptoed to the entryway, ready to face whatever it was.

Well, perhaps not _that_.

Steven Grant Rogers, also known as Captain America, the defender of the innocents around the globe, was knitting. _Knitting._ His whole 6' 2" height was bended over of what looked like… baby socks? Pink baby socks? Oooo-kay…. so maybe the absinthe last night had been a bit too much, if Tony was still seeing hallucinations. There was no way Steve was knitting pink baby socks, nope, never.

Tony backed away from the entryway, making his way back to his own quarters. He definitely needed more sleep if he was seeing things like that.

The next morning the idea of Steve knitting sounded ridiculous – why would Steve knit? Steve was a relic from the 1940's, a hard-boiled soldier, who would never do anything so feminine than _knit_. Tony could understand why someone like Peter Parked would knit Spider-Man themed stuff, like socks, because Peter's generation thought that knitting guys were cool and unique and they weren't getting bullied by macho alpha guys because of it. But Steve? No, it was the absinthe talking – Tony hadn't most definitely seen Steve knitting pink baby socks.

In fact it was so ridiculous Tony discarded his idea of asking about knitting from Steve himself – he didn't want Steve to look his like _that_ , like he was an idiot for even asking it. _Howard_ had watched him like that more than once, heck, almost all the time, and it was an experience Tony didn't want to repeat if he could avoid it. It was better to keep his mouth shut.

On the other hand Tony kind of wanted Steve to knit, because then maybe the fact Tony knitted too wouldn't be so fucking _embarrassing_ to admit. One of his therapists _(Paul? Elizabeth? Emerson?)_ had recommended knitting as part of his therapy – it was supposed to reduce stress and the symptoms of PTSD and whatnot. At first Tony had laughed out loud to the suggestion – he, Tony Stark, knitting? Oh please. He had better things to do than _knitting_. Like trying to stay **alive** for starters, when the man he had thought as a second father had tried to kill him, not to mention the fact he had sort of poisoned himself with the arc reactor. So no thank you, Tony was not interested in knitting. Ever.

Except that one night when Tony was bored and had nothing to do, literally, he had started watching on YouTube videos about knitting just because he was curious. Wow. Some of those things… shit, Tony hadn't realised you could create things like that with just a piece of yarn. Intrigued, Tony soon found countless free knitting patterns on the internet, and, well, as much he hated to admit aloud the knitting actually helped with stress. There was something soothing about the repeated motions and the satisfaction of finishing another multi-yarn experiment with a twist of his own. Tony was most proud of the sweater coat he had made for himself – the multiple cables had been a pain in the ass, but the end result was absolutely gorgeous. Not that anyone would ever know Tony had knitted it himself – everyone thought it was by some high-end designer and Tony had paid fortune to own it, and frankly speaking Tony rather let everyone think that way. Then he wouldn't have to answer the awkward questions of why the multibillionaire superhero like himself was doing such womanly things as knitting. It would be bad for his publicity – no supervillain would ever take him seriously again if they knew about his secret hobby. A little voice in his mind tried to remind Tony it was Howard talking and not really everyone else, but Tony refused to listen as usual. He was Tony fucking Stark, and he couldn't show any weaknesses.

Weeks later, after a gruelling fight with another wannabe world destroyer Tony couldn't sleep. He was just too wired for that, but his injuries weren't exactly gym friendly so to speak. After checking that everyone else was asleep _(because what else would do you with your AI installed all over the Tower?)_ Tony took his latest project and curled to the biggest armchair in the living room. If he was going to be awake he could at least do something productive.

Soon the sweater he was working on started taking form, and Tony was lost in the world of yarn and creating new patterns as he was going. The combination of blue and white reminded him of Steve and his uniform – maybe he could do this sweater for Steve, as it seemed like the supersoldier was adding more and more layers to himself the minute the winter approached. It shouldn't come as a surprise though, given the fact how long Steve had spent frozen under the sea. Yes. Tony would do it for Steve, not that Steve would ever know it. He could just… leave the sweater to Steve's bed when it was finished and claim it was from one of his fans.

"I didn't know you knitted, too".

Shitshithit. Steve was supposed to be asleep, he wasn't supposed to be here, he was not supposed to know Tony knitted and… Wait?

"What do mean by 'you knitted, too?' "

Steve. Oh Steve. Apparently it was an okay thing in Steve's youth to be a knitting man and still not be treated as a weirdo, because Steve's mom had taught him to knit when Steve was sick and could not do anything else. And let's face it, Steve had been sick a lot, so he had gotten pretty good at knitting, and he still liked to do it because it reminded him of his mother.

"The pink baby socks? Is there something I should know about? Please don't tell there will be a mini-Capsicle going around soon? Because I don't I could handle that, kids are not…"

"Tony, breath. They are for the children's hospital, okay? Now tell me where you got that yarn, I've been trying to find that exact shade of blue for months."


End file.
